Glengarry Glen Ross

The “coffee is for closers” line is considered one of the most iconic moments from playwright David Mamet’s entire oeuvre (Glengarry Glen Ross. Directed by James Foley, New Line Cinema, 1992). However, the line is actually nowhere to be found in the playscript for Glengarry Glenn Ross, which premiered at the National Theatre in London in 1983 and debuted on Broadway in 1984. Rather, it appears in the 1992 film adaptation, with a screenplay that was also written by Mamet, uttered by a young Alec Baldwin in a role that doesn’t appear in the play and has less than 10 minutes of screentime. Baldwin’s character, listed as Blake in the script but unnamed in the film itself, provides exposition by explaining the sales contest that provides the central conflict of the narrative (Liebenson, Donald. “How the Glengarry Glen Ross ‘Coffee Is for Closers’ Scene Got Made.” Vanity Fair, 2022). The film’s cast includes many of the most celebrated actors of the late 20th century: Al Pacino as Richard Roma, Jack Lemmon as Shelley Levene, Alan Arkin as George Aaronow, Ed Harris as Dave Moss, and Kevin Spacey as John Williamson. In his 10-minute appearance, Baldwin’s Blake utters several of the film’s most memorable lines, including the maxim “A, B, C…Always be closing”—which, ironically, has become popular among real-life salespeople, even supplying the title of a bestselling 2016 sales book by Omid Kazravan (Foley, 1992). Although Baldwin’s character isn’t in the play, which in 1984 won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play, his lines encapsulate the play’s criticism of the capitalist greed and corporate consumerism of the United States in the 1980s. Mamet based the play on his own experience working as the assistant office manager for a real estate firm in a role similar to the one occupied by the character John Williamson.

This study guide uses and references the edition of the play published by Grove Press in 1984.

Content Warning: Glengarry Glen Ross includes crude language, anti-gay slurs, racist language, and a reference to child sexual assault. This guide reproduces such language in direct quotations.

Plot Summary

The first act takes place over three scenes set in a Chinese restaurant. In the first scene, seasoned real estate salesman Shelly Levene has just eaten with John Williamson, the office manager. Levene begs Williamson to give him some of the good leads that are reserved for the top salesmen, but Williamson won’t because Levene hasn’t been closing. Levene, whose job is on the line if he doesn’t sell, tries to bribe him, but Williamson walks away when he doesn’t even have a hundred dollars to give him up front or money to pay for his dinner.

In Scene 2, salesmen Dave Moss and George Aaronow complain about the sales contest in the office, which will award a Cadillac to the top salesman and pink slips to the bottom two. Moss describes a supposed hypothetical in which someone could rob the office and take all the leads to sell to an independent agent named Jerry Graff. It soon becomes clear that Moss’s scenario isn’t hypothetical, and he fools a reluctant Aaronow into believing he’s now roped into the plan as an accomplice. Furthermore, Moss says, Aaronow must be the one to carry out the robbery, since Moss has been carping about the contest and will therefore be the first suspect. It also needs to happen tonight because Moss has an alibi planned. Aaronow is backed into a corner and seems defeated.

In Scene 3, Richard Roma, the office’s top salesman, is in one booth and a stranger named James Lingk is in the next one. Lingk is raptly attentive as Roma gives a blustering monologue about taking risks. Roma introduces himself and buys Lingk a drink, shifting into his sales pitch on some Florida properties. Act II takes place in the real estate office the following day. A window is broken and boarded up from the robbery the previous night, and a detective named Baylen questions each salesman separately throughout the act in an offstage room. Aaronow is there and seems anxious. Roma arrives, demanding to know if the burglar took their leads or the contracts they had closed. Williamson reassures him that he already filed Lingk’s contract. Levene enters next, ecstatic after finally closing a big sale and ending his run of bad luck. His customers are an old couple who have wasted the time of many salesmen before him. Moss exits the interrogation room, furious that the detective has treated him as a suspect. Baylen calls Aaronow to take his turn in the hot seat, and Aaronow exits. Foul-tempered, Moss argues with Roma and exits. Roma listens encouragingly as Levene describes how he made the sale, but he is dismayed to look out the window and see Lingk approaching. Quickly, he tells Levene to pose as a client in a hurry to catch an airplane.

Lingk enters wanting to cancel the sale, which he has three days to do, because his wife vetoed the purchase. Roma tries to stall Lingk by claiming that the three days begin when the check is cashed, which he says hasn’t happened yet, and therefore he can wait until Monday. Aaronow exits the interrogation room, spitting the same bitter indignation as Moss. When Lingk notices the police presence, Williamson interjects that there was a robbery, but Lingk’s check was safely deposited. Realizing that Roma was trying to scam him by making him miss the three-day grace period, Lingk exits angrily. Roma berates and insults Williamson for ruining the sale. Roma goes in to be questioned, and Levene continues to harangue Williamson, but Williamson catches Levene in a lie and accuses him of carrying out the robbery. Levene denies it, but finally admits it, trying again to bribe Williamson with a chunk of his commission, including the sale he just made. Williamson informs Levene that the sale isn’t going to go through, because the couple is notorious for being broker than they pretend, and their check is bad. Roma emerges, and Williamson goes to tell Baylen the name of the burglar. Levene goes in to face the music. Roma tells Williamson that he will be working with Levene and taking half of his commission from now on. Williamson remains stoic.